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Ya done good Skwirl..Cleaning them up can be a real chore. Your serial number would be 1945.
The stock on mine is not nearly as nice as yours..when I got mine you just got what they sent , no hand
select option. A friend of mine ordered one when I did from the DCM and received a M1 D sniper
minus the scope..go figure. I had some good pics but lost them when my computer crashed
several years ago. Here's one of me shooting my Garand. Stay safe my friends. Dick

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Ya done good Skwirl..Cleaning them up can be a real chore. Your serial number would be 1945.
The stock on mine is not nearly as nice as yours..when I got mine you just got what they sent , no hand
select option. A friend of mine ordered one when I did from the DCM and received a M1 D sniper
minus the scope..go figure. I had some good pics but lost them when my computer crashed
several years ago. Here's one of me shooting my Garand. Stay safe my friends. Dick

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I shot my first Garand when I was 10. By the way, never got "M1 Thumb". Dad showed me how to avoid that.
I have one in the safe that is GORGEOUS. It's a National Match. After Dad died I took his best friend to the range and we shot it. Later he told me it was unfired.
I took it and several other guns to my daughter's school to show them to the history class. Quoted Patton with the "best battle rifle ever produced".
Jim

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Congrats, P&R on the match rifle.
As for the m1 thumb, not yet.
I've been practicing a lot to. Rather simple to avoid really.
It's not plastic, its steel and built to take a beating.
Handle it as such, and it functions great.

Premium Member

It will take some work, but when you apply BLO, you hand rub it in. The heat generated by the friction is what melts it into the wood grain. This is a slow, but rewarding process.

On old stocks that I chose to refinish, I steamed out any dents, melted away the old BLO finish and redid them with new BLO cut 2 parts BLO to one part mineral spirits. I used several hand applied coats.

Study how to properly lubricate your M1 Garand. They came with little cups of grease for use on sliding surfaces. After lightly greasing the appropriate surfaces (bolt sliding lugs, op rod contact point with barrel, internal action and trigger group areas) the grease that is left all goes into the op rod spring liberally. This is important for correct operation, especially on a rifle that is close to new.

You never completely tighten down the gas cylinder against forward handguard. The handguard should be loose, and able to move forward and back about a 64th of an inch or so. If you tighten it down all the way you'll mess up the barrel harmonics and drive it off accuracy, especially as the barrel heats up in usage.

Your gas cylinder should fit reasonably snugly onto the barrel splines. If it's loose the point of aim of the front sight will shift. The barrel splines can be peened to tighten things up if needed.

I've taught the CMP course on the Garand and help host competitions at our club. They are remarkable battle rifles.

As powerful as they are, they escape the ire of the gun grabbers because of their wood (instead of evil black plastic) furniture... I'm sure their heads would spin if they figured out we can even buy them surplus from our government!

(This one had a grenade launcher attached, and I filled the threaded holes with stainless set screws...)

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I got done yesterday with the work.
Packed up and headed to the gun club today.
Here we are, ready to roar,

I started at 50 and it shot high and a little right.
I cranked the rear sight some, and it got closer.
Moved to 100 and it shot 6 to 8 inches high and slightly right. Moved the rear sight 2 more clicks over and that brought it to center. I forgot my Allen wrenches, so I couldn't adjust the front sight. Next time I'll make sure to have them.
The m1 functioned perfectly also. I started by loading 1 round in the chamber at a time. Just to check the operation of it. No problem there. Then I dropped a clip in and load 3 rounds. With no m1 thumb, lol. The ding of the clip ejecting did get a few heads to turn and look. Which inspired a few questions, and lead to a great afternoon of chit chat.
Then I decided to see if I could ring a steel plate at 200.
I havent shot that far with a scoped rifle, so I didnt expect to much ringing. To my surprise, I hit that steel 8 out of 12 shots. I was very pleased with that.
Overall, what a great rifle. Functioned perfectly, recoil is moderate, and its accurate. I fired 60 rounds in all today, and dont feel anything in my shoulder.
I'll be taking my m1 to range some more after our deer gun season. I want to get it dailed in on those steel plates.
Sorry for the lack of pics of targets, it was busy at the club.

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You arent kidding.
I never had a reason to shoot 200 yds with a scoped rifle.
Now with a 73 year old, open sight battle rifle, I WANT to ring that steel every time.
I think I'm going to need more ammo, lol.
I feel the need to really learn the sights and get the elevation set to the dial.
Oh boy, here we go.

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I brought my M1 Garand home today. It's a CMP rifle. Hasn't been shot since leaving CMP. It's still a little cruddy and needs cleaning.
It has a 3.7 serial, about 1945 I believe. The barrel is stamped 9 -43 with muzzle and chamber measured at 1+. Its all SA, except for the trigger guard. The stock is new from CMP, and it fits very good.
Anywho, heres a pic.View attachment 339113